Archive for the 'Kyle Palmieri' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Ben Lovejoy played his way up from the extra defenseman role when he was first acquired and it is no wonder that the Ducks are trying to keep him around.

The Ducks and Lovejoy continue to discuss a contract extension after the blue-liner made a strong impression in becoming one of the Coach Bruce Boudreau's more trusted players over his four-month stint with the club.

Lovejoy's agent, Robert Murray, confirmed in an e-mail to the Register that he and the Ducks "have had ongoing discussions" but wouldn't not elaborate any further on the talks. Lovejoy made the league-minimum of $525,000 last season, which was pro-rated because of the NHL lockout.

Ducks GM Bob Murray, who is of no relation to Lovejoy's representative, readily acknowledged at the team's exit meetings that he wants to extend the defenseman. Lovejoy is slated to become an unrestricted free agent.

There is no question that Lovejoy will get a nice raise -- perhaps a significant one -- after contributing 10 assists and a plus-6 rating in 32 regular-season games with the Ducks while averaging 17 minutes, 49 seconds of ice time.

ANAHEIM -- The biggest victory of an out-of-nowhere season to date was in the books and Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau couldn't truly enjoy it.

On the faceoff after Teemu Selanne's goal that proved to be the winner late in the third period of Wednesday’s come-from-behind 4-2 victory, Ducks winger Andrew Cogliano took a stick to his mouth, courtesy of Chicago's Brandon Bollig.(VIDEO).

Cogliano would lose his two front teeth and Boudreau said his key forward "gets viciously hit in the mouth with no puck there." The coach took the opportunity to release some pent-up frustration.

"It boggles my mind," Boudreau said. "Every game, that we’re getting high sticked. Double minored. And we don’t get the calls. That’s one power play again (for us). One penalty (committed) against us. It’s getting kind of ridiculous."

His overall points: His Ducks are no longer the big, bad undisciplined Ducks of years past and not only are they not getting enough calls but that they've too often been on the receiving end of plays that tread the line of illegality or skip over it.

ANAHEIM -- There were options for one Corey Perry. Quite a few of them.

Toronto had the money available. So does Detroit. Ottawa was said to have serious interest in making a play for him.

All three would have put Perry closer to his off-season home in London, Ontario, where he could also be near his parents and extended family. None of them had Ryan Getzlaf, the center with which he has forged an uncanny chemistry with for eight years.

Before the speculation could really ramp up about his future with the Ducks, Perry removed the uncertainty Monday by committing to the only team he has been with for another eight years.

It'll cost the Ducks a cool $69 million. And that is coming right on top of Getzlaf's $66 million deal that was negotiated 10 days before.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Having to put forwards Kyle Palmieri and Brad Staubitz on injured reserve, the Ducks replenished their roster Monday by recalling wingers Patrick Maroon and Devante Smith-Pelly from Norfolk of the American Hockey League.

Palmieri has missed the last four games because of an upper-body injury suffered March 4 against Phoenix while Staubitz was not available due to a facial cut incurred Friday against Calgary when hit by the skate blade of the Flames' Alex Tanguay.

Maroon, 24, played in nine games with the Ducks and got his first NHL goal on Feb. 16 against Nashville. He has 17 goals and 36 points with Norfolk this season and is coming off an AHL player of the week honor after scoring four times with two assists in three games.

Smith-Pelly, 20, made the Ducks out of training camp and played in five games before being assigned back to the Admirals. He did not register a point while averaging under eight minutes a game on the fourth line.

Smith-Pelly has seven goals and 13 assists in 47 games with the Admirals. He appeared in 49 games as a rookie with the Ducks last season, totaling seven goals and six assists.

ANAHEIM -- Kyle Palmieri skated alone before a very optional Ducks workout and called it “a step in the right direction” but it doesn’t mean that his return from an upper-body injury suffered last week in Phoenix is imminent.

Palmieri has missed the past two games after being driven into the boards by the Coyotes’ often-suspended Raffi Torres, who did not receive any hearing for this hit.

“I think with these kinds of injuries, you just got to take them day by day,” Palmieri said. “We’ll see what happens when I come in tomorrow.”

The Ducks will not specify whether Palmieri suffered a concussion but the winger acknowledged that he has to deal with some symptoms resulting from that hit.

“It varies on what day,” he said. “Obviously after the game Saturday it was a little worse than what it is now. I’m still recovering. Haven’t had any setbacks. We’ll just keep going forward.”

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Ducks recalled forward Brandon McMillan from Norfolk of the American Hockey League as winger Kyle Palmieri will miss Monday night's game against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Palmieri is currently day-to-day due to an upper-body injury suffered Saturday night when he was hit by Coyotes winger Raffi Torres. The left wing was recently promoted to the top line last week and got his first hat trick against Nashville, giving him seven goals.

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau sees Palmieri's injury status as short term and is hopeful that he can return Wednesday when the teams play a third straight game, this time at Honda Center.

"He's not bad," Boudreau said. "He's feeling OK today again. It's an upper-body injury and you just have to be careful with it. But I don't anticipate any problems with him at all.

"It was debatable whether he was going to come back and play today. As far as I’m concerned, until I’m told, I assume he’s going to be skating in practice tomorrow and be re-evaluated to see if he can play Wednesday."

ANAHEIM -- Kyle Palmieri has been one of several Ducks who have played on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry but the winger may have earned a spot there for another game or more after his scored three goals off assists from Getzlaf and Perry in a 5-1 win over Nashville. Palmieri's natural hat trick was the sixth of its kind in franchise history and the first since Andrew Cogliano did it last season. The native of Smithtown, N.Y. now leads the Ducks with seven goals.

ANAHEIM -- The latest edition of The Great Bobby Ryan Center Ice Experiment took place Friday night and, for once, it was actually great.

Ryan has been tried out in the middle on several occasions in recent years but not for very long after a lack of success each time. But there's hope this time around after the usual sniper on the wing flourished at center in the Ducks' 3-2 victory over Minnesota.

Moved over to the pivot on the second line by Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, Ryan scored a power-play goal and assisted on both of Kyle Palmieri's goals at even strength. It helped snap out of a slow start in which he had just a goal and a helper in the first five games.

Ryan said he "just tried to go out and play a little defensive and take advantage of opportunities up the ice." He also acknowledged that he needs to work on some reads and that he "had a lot of help from our [defensemen]" in the times when he felt uncomfortable.

But the four-time 30-goal scorer who's often had to take a back seat to other stars on his team is eager to take on more responsibility.

ANAHEIM -- Kyle Palmieri scored twice and Bobby Ryan added one while Teemu Selanne set up all three goals in the Ducks' 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night at Honda Center.

Palmieri, who turned 22 on Friday, got his second career two-goal game and first since March 14, 2012 against Detroit. Ryan had a strong effort in his first game at center on the second line as the three of them combined for eight points.

Viktor Fasth stopped 26 shots for his second win in as many starts as the Ducks improved to 4-1-1 heading into Saturday night's home game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings.

Marco Scandella put the Wild on the scoreboard at 9:44 of the first period with a shot that slipped between Fasth's pads even as he had a clear view of it.

Fasth would have wanted that one back but he stopped everything else the rest of the way while the Ducks put the clamps on Minnesota and its top line of Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley.

Kyle Palmieri scored in his return to Syracuse and Sami Vatanen also added a goal but they weren't enough as the visiting Norfolk Admirals lost to the Crunch, 4-2, on Friday night.

It was the first trip for the Ducks' American Hockey League team to Syracuse, where the organization previously had its AHL affiliate for two seasons. The Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightning effectively switched locations as the Lightning took up residence in center New York.

Palmieri scored his 10th goal of the season when he beat Crunch goalie Dustin Tokarski with a backhand shot after he picked off a pass in the neutral zone. The winger scored 29 and 33 goals respectively to lead Syracuse in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

Vatanen got the Admirals back within a goal at 3-2 in the third when the defenseman took Patrick Maroon's pass and deposited into the net. But Brett Connolly added insurance for Syracuse with the Crunch's third power-play goal of the night with 3:45 left.

Igor Bobkov took the loss in goal, stopping 28 of 32 shots. Tokarski only needed to make 16 saves.